Pittsburgh Penguins Drop Game Three in Overtime

The Pittsburgh Penguins dropped game three of the Stanley Cup Final in overtime to the San Jose Sharks, despite a strong start and a few leads.

Despite the absence of Tomas Hertl in the San Jose Sharks‘ lineup, the California team managed to notch its first Stanley Cup Final win in history. Though the Pittsburgh Penguins led the game in two different instances, the resilient Sharks got the better of them in the end as Joonas Donskoi scored the overtime game-winner.

Just a few minutes into the game, the Penguins got their first powerplay opportunity as Joel Ward went to the box for high-sticking. Their PP has been pretty lackluster as of late and this one was, unfortunately, no exception. Not only did the Sharks have a strong kill but they also even had a good pickup that led to some pressure in the Penguins’ zone.

Though the penalty on Ward had expired, the Penguins quickly got on the board afterward. Ben Lovejoy, of all people, gave his team an early lead. Martin Jones misplayed the puck in the midst of traffic, allowing Matt Cullen to pick it up and get it in front of the wide open net, where Lovejoy took advantage of it.

Just moments later, Carl Hagelin nearly scored another one, but it juuuuuuust missed. The Penguins were doing a great job of sustaining pressure in the Sharks’ zone and peppering Jones with shots. Jones also misplayed several pucks early, including that one that led to Lovejoy’s goal, and perhaps a few nerves were showing.

Several of those instances were also when the third defensive pair of Brenden Dillon and Roman Polak were on the ice. Of course those guys aren’t bad by any stretch, but the Penguins have been trying to turn them inside out all series – and they’ve been succeeding.

As we all know, the Penguins are fast, and in general the Sharks are as well. But that third d-pair consists of big, physical guys: therefore, if and when the Penguins can get behind them, they’ll be forced to chase the attacking Pens up the ice rather than backchecking. Miscommunication with Jones also helps, though.

Justin Braun tied things up just around the halfway point of the first period… on only the second shot of the game for San Jose. In Matt Murray‘s defense, he was completely screened and couldn’t see a bit of the shot. He didn’t even move until the puck was safely behind him.

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The Penguins were outshooting the Sharks and had come out really strong, but the momentum had clearly shifted following Braun’s goal. The Sharks looked like they were on the powerplay despite it actually being even strength, and though they didn’t get more than a couple shots on goal during their surge it was a big reversal. The back-and-forth nature of these games, in which one team has dominated, then the other, rather than both canceling each other out, is reminiscent of the last series against the Tampa Bay Lighting.

The Penguins had a lot of difficulty exiting their zone at all in the later half of the first period, and they just really looked like they needed to go to the locker room and regroup as soon as they could.

Thankfully for them, the first period ended without further incident. However, the two teams had a combined twelve giveaways in the first twenty minutes of play. That’s not really something you want to see as a fan of either team… unless you’re scoring off it.

The Sharks came out strong in the second period, though, and that’s a time that the Penguins usually dominate. Matt Murray came up huge early on as Brent Burns got a point-blank scoring opportunity, just before the teams converged in a scrum in front of the net.

Just a few moments later, Murray made another phenomenal save on Joel Ward, who went up the ice with Chris Tierney on a two-on-one. Brian Dumoulin did his best to stop the attack, but Murray definitively said no. In games like this, the most you can really ask for is your goalie to be strong.

Hagelin took the first penalty of the second period just over midway through for tripping. The Sharks’ powerplay is good, but so is the Pens’ penalty kill.

Lovejoy has had a bit of a redemption postseason, really stepping up after a subpar regular season with the Pens. He shot a rocket from the point near the end of the second period and Patric Hornqvist deflected it into the net, giving the Pens another late lead.

Kris Letang and Ian Cole also teamed up to get in the way of a last-minute attempt from Joonas Donskoi. Neither actually blocked the shot, but they seemed to throw Donskoi off enough that he missed the net thanks to a wobbly shot. The Penguins would end the second with a much more even shot count but now, with the lead.

Nick Bonino, one of the Penguins’ best penalty killers, took a double-minor penalty in the third period for high-sticking Joe Thornton and drawing blood. Most of it passed without incident, but San Jose coach Peter DeBoer wisely called a timeout to rest his top unit. Joel Ward launched the puck from the slot through Murray, and tied it up.

Would you expect anything else at this point?

The game would go to overtime, again. Neither the Sharks nor the Penguins had played poorly up to this point, but the home team had definitely made the Pens pay for their mistakes. Kris Letang made a few mistakes tonight, but he didn’t take a dumb penalty, so that’s the good news.

Overtime saw more of the same, at least to start. The ice was still choppy and the puck still spun and bounced haphazardly. The Sharks still tried to shoot up high on the glove side on Murray, and the Pens still tried to zoom up ice in fast rushes.

Donskoi would put the nail in the coffin and give the Sharks their first ever Stanley Cup Final win. Chris Tierney made a move to get the puck to Donskoi, who snuck the puck up high past Murray. Again, that spot is problematic for Murray, but there is absolutely no reason to try to fix that right now and throw off his game. In the offseason, that will be an issue to address.

For now, it’s only time to focus on game four. That game will take place on Monday, and let’s all start hoping and praying now that the Penguins don’t cough up a lead in that one too.